have i given too little?

March 16, 2012 in General, VerbTribe, Write / Now

VerbTribe has been an extraordinary journey for me as a teacher, and for those who have joined it. As we close our first 37-day journey into writing, I am featuring writing from VerbTribe members here on 37days. Writer Billie Stingley offered us this beautiful piece of writing about giving.

Have I Given too Little

have I given too little
have I given too much
how do I know
do they judge my giving
or do they even know that I gave

i gave my time until they thought it was theirs
i gave my tears, did they even see the stains
i gave my heart and suffered the scars

the sleepless nights, the tearing of my soul
i anticipated their needs and jumped ahead
did I meet their needs or only my own perceptions

i so wanted them to bypass the pain
to be blessed by life

and now I find. . . the escape from pain, the finding of themselves, the blessing, was never mine to give.

-Billie Stingley

[photo by Billie Stingley]

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.